Some things never change
by Shaynie
Summary: Vanyel has been waiting very diligently for his life bond, but sometimes waiting just isn't good enough.


Vanyel stood, wiping leaves off of his shirt, trying to ignore the grass stains that were common after trouncing the thugs that entered the forest on a daily basis. "How can ghosts pick up leaves anyways?"

Yfandes shook her head, laughing at the stricken look on his face. "_Possibly because said ghosts enjoy corporal more then insubstantial form. That would also explain the blood stains on your shirt_."

Vanyel glared at his companion, then looked away as he caught himself. 'Fandes didn't need to deal with the fact that he missed his life mate, she'd dealt with his pain enough over the past years that she simply didn't want to put up with it anymore. And it was necessary after all.

_"You think those particular bandits would learn though. That's the third time this week they've entered the forest, and the third time they've been left outside of said forest."_

Yfandes chuckled then looked at Vanyel mischievously. She cocked her head to the side, and laughed silently through their link.

Vanyel shot her an irritated look, and crossed his arms. _"What is it horse?"_

Yfandes snorted, then turned heel and galloped off into the sunset.

Vanyel snorted right back at her retreating hide, and threw a comment into their link before she shut it down. _"Well, at least one old mare is up to being more then a little immature"_

He sighed, then reached into the air and pulled a leather thong out of…nothing. He quickly tied his hair back. Though he could be substantial or insubstantial his hair tended to grow still, and he hadn't managed to convince 'Fandes that she wanted to take human form to cut it. Yet. She had smiled at him somewhat mysteriously, mentioned something about them liking it longer anyway, and then she walked away. It was an irritating habit she had been getting into – simply walking away from something she didn't want to explain. How truly like a female.

_"I heard that!" _the mental voice chided, rather indelicately in his ear.

_"Learned your lesson yet Mistress mine?" _He asked innocently. He got the barrier slammed up a bit more violently this time.

He shrugged again, and went back to brooding. While he had known that Stefen needed to do what he was doing to help Valdemar, that didn't make the hurt any less. He missed his life bonded more then he truly cared to admit.

Living in the Forest of Sorrows had it's perks, but being dead almost completely outweighed all of those. His duty to Valdemar would never be complete, unless some other hapless Herald decided to relieve him of his position and, as Lord Death so often pointed out, that Herald would have to have the same level of abilities as Vanyel. Which hadn't happened since, and wouldn't happen for another few centuries if his Shadow lover had his way.

Morbidly perhaps, Death loved that song. Truly, Lord Death asked him to play it almost every time he visited. Which hadn't been for a long while as far as he recalled. No matter. Eventually Stefen would return to him. Hopefully at least.

His lifebond may decide that life had been much too long, too hard, and wish to pass on. Which, truthfully, Vanyel would never begrudge him. If there were any other person available to guard the pass he would gladly pass on the duties.

But there was no one else. And thus, Vanyel would brood.

The hours in the Forest of Sorrows were long and hard on its keeper. Vanyel had naught to do but protect those few innocents who wandered into his domain, and punish those corrupt many who tried to use the Forest as a place to regroup. The punishment was enjoyable, and the forest was exceedingly helpful. The powerful node that ran underneath the Forest itself had given a slightly larger form of life to the trees after Vanyel had taken over.

Thus the first line of defense was normally all that was required to stay the bandits and thieves that strayed towards this area. Once there had been a slight band of blood mages that had strayed down the path, hoping to gain access to Valdemar that way, but Vanyel quickly dispatched of them.

He would not let those into his domain.

But life was generally quite docile, almost too much so in many ways. He had managed to build a cabin of sorts, grafting wood into the forest to make a slight house, hidden deeply in the woods. This cabin was, like Moondance's own abode in the K'Treva lands, built entirely from the surrounding area. The bed was simply a morphed tree trunk, covered in a very soft, downy moss.

Slightly preposterous for a ghost? Not overly. The magic had been gathering in him for so long that he had hardly noticed the ability to become completely "alive" coming over him. Ah, the joys of Tayl –

_"Still brooding ke'chera?"_

The voice was innocuous, the tone familiar. Vanyel spun, staring in shock at the blonde staring at him hungrily.

Tylendal stood in front of him. Tylendal who shouldn't exist, because he was reincarnated as Stefen. Tylendal who had been his first and only love for so long…and all he could do was gape at him.

Tylendal looked like exactly like he did the last time he had seen him in the dreamscape. In full whites, and a few years older. The blonde locks were curled, and fell down in a slightly tousled way. His eyes looked sleepily indulgent, and he had a slightly smirk on his face.

But it was undeniably Tylendal.

"But…how? What…Stefen…and…but where's…?" The questions all ran together, and Vanyel whirled hearing a chuckle from behind him.

This time it was Stefen.

Vanyel looked between the two, achingly lost as to which one he should go to first. Never had he imagined that Lord Death would allow them both, even though they shared the same soul, to come back to him. Both his lifebonds. With him.

Caught in his indecision he didn't notice the four hands that grabbed at him expertly, pinning him to the ground in mere seconds.

Vanyel arched, his breath coming out shortly, as he tried to reorient himself to the situation. All he could really focus on were the sensations, both new and old. He'd had few partners in the past, but both Tylendal and Stefen had known him very intimately, to the point where any slight movement could be…torture.

"…how….?" He gasped out, his voice hoarse. He shuddered when the two withdrew their hands and left him on the forest floor. He noticed they were both kneeling above him.

"Answers can be achieved, ashke." Tylendal smiled. "But first, where's this cabin of yours that Gala mentioned?"

Vanyel started, at the sound of the name.

"I've atoned ashke. Don't worry. But let's get to your comfortable abode."

Vanyel nodded and pointed weakly. The two others hauled him to his feet and, with exceedingly annoying prowess, managed to distract Vanyel almost completely on the way to the cabin.

Once there they dumped Vanyel surreptitiously onto the bed, and moved away from, earning a growl in protest.

His two lovers looked at each other mischievously, settling themselves on the bed with Vanyel between them. "We were both given the option, ashke." Stefen whispered, caressing both Vanyel and Tylendal simultaneously, eliciting gasps from both.

Tylendal smirked again, this time adding his own hands back to the fray.

Vanyel quickly forgot almost all his questions.

His lovers had not forgotten everything about him, but they both required very different actions, and he could barely think much less try to get his hands to move towards his very eager life mates.

It wasn't until he noticed the differences that he began to realize why he was getting so utterly lost in the sensations.

Tylendal was pulling him into his emotions, and through him Stefen was linked. The result was that he could Feel all three of them through the bond and through Tylendal's mind link. Which was almost overloading his being. He was nothing but the emotions that all three had hidden from so long, and the physical reactions denied to them for years beyond count.

He was nothing but Tylendal, then he was nothing but Stefen. He lost himself in their repeated embraces, their continued diligent unraveling of his defenses.

"You….you…two planned this!" He gasped out.

He noticed the twin looks of sleepy pleasure being slightly outshone with guilt.

"We have one last 'gift', ashke." Stefen grinned crookedly.

With that Vanyel had no chance to repel the new feelings, sensations, and finally found his body finding safety in an encroaching darkness.

- - - - -

He came to slowly, hearing two female voices chattering almost incessantly in his brain.

_"From over-ACTivity Tylendal?" _The voice that had to be Gala's was dripping sarcasm.

Vanyel felt pleasantly sated, and it took him a moment to realize why. Two very attractive sex fiends, or rather life mates, on either side of him, cushioned him on his comfortable bed. He negligently grabbed a tendril of magic floating in his cabin to make the bed larger, and made himself more comfortable by burrowing himself closer to Stefen, indiscriminant to where his hands actually landed.

The bard murmured his protest sleepily, then moved over to give them a bit more room. Vanyel started when he felt cool hands reach up to twine themselves through his hair, gently curving his face in for an equally gentle kiss.

Tylendal looked at him proprietarily, and finally managed to maker himself comfortable.

_"Yes Gala, over-activity. It's common between lifebonds, didn't you know that?"_

Gala's response was, perhaps reasonably so, slightly inarticulate.


End file.
